XXXTentacion Collaborator John Cunningham Details The Rapper’s Upcoming Posthumous Album

“The songs and the ideas and the vision of it all was done or very close to being done.”

South Florida rapper XXXTentacion was shot and killed in Deerfield Beach, Florida back in June at just 20 years old. His murder brought an abrupt end to the career of one of hip-hop’s most popular and controversial young artists, and catapulted his single “SAD!” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The rapper had inked a reported $10 million deal shortly before his death, with The New York Times claiming that his next album could come out as soon as this month. It’s likely to be one of the biggest rap releases of the year.

Genius recently spoke with XXXTentacion’s close collaborator and ? (Question Mark) co-executive producer John Cunningham for our feature about the influence of pop punk and emo music on today’s hip-hop scene. During the conversation, Cunningham also volunteered information about his work on the rapper’s new album, which he said X had largely finished recording before his murder.

“We basically started making this next album right after ? (Question Mark) came out,” Cunningham said in a phone interview. “The songs and the ideas and the vision of it all was done or very close to being done.”

Cunningham is once again playing a major role on the new project, and explained that the remaining work is mostly “getting it mixed or mastered or a certain thing added.” He’s largely in charge of making the remaining creative decisions for the project, but said he’s following X’s blueprint. “The whole idea, the concept, the songs, [all that] was done,” he said.

Since X’s death, high-profile artists like Kanye West and J. Cole have come out in support of him. “It’s hard to see someone that he looked up to and didn’t know whether or not they liked him back saying they liked him after he’s gone,” Cunningham said about the unexpected cosigns. “It’s just hard because I know he would have been so happy seeing a lot of this stuff while he was still around.”

The whole idea, the concept, the songs, [all that] was done.

— John Cunningham

Cunningham noted that X had FaceTimed with J. Cole while he was still alive, and that “someone in Kanye’s camp” had reached out to them about beats at one point. After this interview took place, Cole further detailed his relationship with X in an interview with Billboard, saying that an intense, three-hour FaceTime session “left a mark on me, just as a person.” Meanwhile, Kanye revealed that X is set to be featured on his upcoming album Yandhi, and said he regretted not publicly supporting X earlier.

However, Cunningham said he’s not surprised about artists' hesitation to support X during his lifetime. At the time of his death, X was facing a series of felony charges, including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering. The charges were dropped because of his murder, although this isn’t the equivalent of a not-guilty verdict. His success in light of these grim allegations was the topic of much debate in the music press.

“People were obviously just scared to publicly support him, probably from the chance of being attacked for the association, which I understand,” Cunningham said.

The question of what should come out is a totally separate question. That hasn’t been answered.

— John Cunningham

Beyond this upcoming release, Cunningham notes that not much else has been decided. Reports during his lifetime indicate that X was a prolific artist, and he spent a significant portion of his final months under house arrest with little to do but record. Still, it seems the business end of things has yet to be fully locked down.

“There’s work out there, but the question of what should come out is a totally separate question,” he said. “That hasn’t been answered, not by me or his mom or anybody, in terms of what happens after this album.”

? (Question Mark) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, moving 131,000 equivalent album units in its first week earlier this year. With “SAD!” still sitting in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the artist’s legacy being rapidly rewritten by fans and rappers alike in the wake of his death, XXXTentacion’s first posthumous album seems poised to be his biggest yet.